TinDrum

Doctorow on Solar Transition in far better shape than we're given to believe

"the material bill for solarization is in freefall, with no end in sight. The amount of stuff we need to make panels, transmission lines and batteries keeps declining. Further: the efficiency gains of “clean” technology are astounding — meaning that, for example, it not only takes a lot less material to make a solar panel, the panel we make out of so much less stuff generates a lot more power. More: we keep finding ways to substitute more abundant materials for materials that are harder to find or refine (for example, swapping out lithium in batteries and replacing it with sodium, one of the most abundant minerals on Earth). Finally: we keep finding new sources of the materials that we can’t readily substitute for"

#solarPunk #renewableEnergy #fossilFuels #climateChange #energyTransition

https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2025-10-02-there-goes-the-sun-carbon-shifting-039f968e727d

Decarbonization at a distance

A post-American century that runs on sunshine.

Medium
Oct 3 at 9:47amWeb
Show threadTinDrumOct 3
"we can reclaim literal *tons* of material from existing, superannuated tech. There’s a solar-powered factory that ingests old solar panels, decomposes them into their source materials, and makes new, hyper-efficient solar panels out of them, reclaiming 99% of their materials"
Show threadDr Susi ArnottOct 3
@oscarjiminy Hurray, now for #demandreduction! Oh...
Show threadTinDrumOct 3

@SusiArnott this's something that gives me pause with doctorow's piece, google amazon and microsoft are scrambling to build private nuclear generators

realise this's 'emission free' too but the've got some smart folks to assess available options and they're not choosing solar

Show threadthermonuclear small claimsOct 3
@oscarjiminy @SusiArnott Smart does not mean up to date. They've got folks running on the same old scripts about power generation as everyone else is.
Show threadJohn GriffithOct 3

@oscarjiminy

This is an important statistic in the article

"The amount of stuff we need to dig up in order to solarize the planet is equal to one seventeenth of the fossil fuels we dig up every year."

I'm so tired of people telling me that they won't buy an
#EV or put #solar on their roof because extracting the minerals is so damaging

Show threadTinDrumOct 3
@johndgriffith i think folks are just over saturated with conflicting information. for people who are confident with stats and know how to vet sources there’s never been any question. the ammount of money that’s been thrown into muddying the waters is probably world historical
Show threadJohn GriffithOct 3

@oscarjiminy

My one observation is that people's uncritical acceptance of misinformation fades away when their neighbor, cousin, brother-in-law etc. puts #solar panels on their house or starts driving an #EV

Show threadSoozcatOct 3

@johndgriffith @oscarjiminy "Sorry, I'm a type 2 diabetic, I can't eat that potato OH YOU HAVE CHOCOLATE OMNOMNOMNOMNOM"

(Yes, I am totally calling myself out, but conservatives nitpicking their supposed concerns about damaging the environment as an excuse to keep the even more damaging status quo? Kinda similar...)